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Where to start as a web developer?

Dan Cherny
Written on Where to start as a web developer?

Many people tell you, "Learn to code," and then many beginners in web development ask themselves, "How do I start?".

The answer is almost always the same, so we explain it now to everyone.

Basically, the answer divides into two categories:

  1. Learn with paid courses
  2. Learn with free resources

Paid courses

Udemy.com

If you don't mind spending some money to understand whether the web development is your journey and not someone else's, we highly recommend taking this course - The Complete 2022 Web Development Bootcamp.

This Udemy bootcamp will lead you from the very beginning, how the Internet works to really advanced things, ending up building your complex web projects. This interactive course can be the best teacher for starting your career as a web developer.

Don't forget that paid courses could be a massive game-changer for you later. As a general rule, paying for something and sticking to it because you have paid for it will not let you slip off the motivation curve. Moreover, you will get to know many interesting and intelligent people on your way to a web developer career. How? You will have interactive classes, code reviews, googling here and there, and asking for advice on Twitter. Finally, you will find yourself in the circle of web developers and maybe, with some mentors.

Also, learning web development is a great way to start coding because you can visually see on the browser the output. You may want to start learning HTML, CSS, then JavaScript.

Another benefit of starting a paid course is structured content, which you will not obtain in many free places like YouTube or Reddit.

How to not get lost in the massive amount of online education providers and their courses? It is an interesting question. We recommend you weigh all the pros and cons of each platform, look at your budget, and not blindly take their offers and believe their inner ratings and bestseller labels. It could be an excellent option for you if the provider offers interactive learning with the built-in editor.

Free courses

FreeCodeCamp.org

You can find many free resources to learn web development on the Internet. We would recommend the first place to take a look - https://freecodecamp.org. This website also has a YouTube channel with many videos to learn the basics and advanced concepts of web development.

There are also some other fantastic free resources from various content creators. You could look at what Traversy Media does or follow Fireship with his short and ingenious explications on many web development topics.

As for academy teaching, you try a course on Computer Science from Harvard University where you can learn CS fundamentals for free.

Conclusion

Learning web development is always a different path for everyone, and you should consider all the possibilities before you stick to something that suits you best.